Neural Audio showcases Neural-THX Surround products

At NAB 2007, Neural Audio Corporation will showcase Neural-THX Surround products created through its partnership with THX, Ltd, and will demonstrate existing and innovative industry-leading products for radio, television and low bit rate broadcast applications at the Harris Corporation booth (N-2502), April 16-19, 2007, Las Vegas Convention Center.

For NAB 2007, Neural Audio will be demonstrating a wide range of products that will allow broadcasters to tap the potential of their current and future systems:

* Neural-THX Surround MultiMerge, UpMix and DownMix solutions for professional studio setup and DTV transmissions;
* NeuStar 4.0 Codec Pre-Conditioning and Optimization hardware and software solutions for radio;
* A 7.1 Neural-THX Surround experience using consumer electronic devices from Onkyo and AppleTV;
* A multi-channel surround sound headphone demonstration for mission critical air force and public safety applications;
* An optimized encoder for mobile operators and Internet content providers and, the Neural Enhanced AMR-WB+.

“Broadcasters today must rely on technologies that delivers content to multiple broadcast platforms such as Internet, cell phones and other mobile devices,” said Mark Seigle, Neural Audio President and COO. “Neural Audio is uniquely positioned to assist broadcasters as the only company with audio codec and surround sound expertise to optimize content for a specific platform.”

Neural Audio and Harris are teaming up to provide solutions that will support both broadcast requirements for lower bit rate and high audio quality.

On display in the Harris digital television center broadcast chain will be the Neural-THX Surround MultiMerge product that facilitates the smooth transition from stereo to 5.1 surround sound. By working in the background of the broadcast chain, the Neural-THX Surround MultiMerge uses intelligent and selective upmixing to blend any audio – legacy mono, stereo, matrix encoded stereo (LR), and 5.1 “discrete content” into an uninterrupted 5.1 surround sound stream without the need of an operator’s intervention for DTV and mobile TV streaming.

MultiMerge can be used in combination with Neural-THX Surround DownMix, so that TV technicians can mix, edit and save surround content on existing 2.0 equipment eliminating the need for costly upgrades. Additionally, the Neural Audio system is backward and forward compatible with analog, digital, lossy, linear, stereo, and 5.1 audio formats.

FlexStar HDI-100 Importer and Harris NeuStar™ SW4.0 Together
At NAB2007, Neural Audio and Harris Broadcast Communications Division will be featuring the first public display of the NeuStar™ SW4.0 Codec Pre-Conditioning Audio Software System embedded in the FlexStar HDI-100 Importer. The award-winning, audio conditioner introduced at NAB 2005, NeuStar SW4.0 is the software version of Neural Audio’s popular NeuStar 4.0 hardware, which can be positioned ahead of Internet streams, 2.5-3G wireless, DVB-H, DAB, DRM, satellite, compressed STL, ISDN and other audio services in the transmission chain for codec improvements and audio processing.

The software version of the NeuStar 4.0 has all the same robust feature sets and processing algorithms, which allows broadcasters to monitor and processmultiple digital radio channels (HD2, HD3 and HD4) or Internet streams at extremely bit rates, and a much lower cost per channel than stand-alone processing.

NeuStar Widens Bandwidth for Multicasting and Revenue Opportunities
With the implementation of multiple audio channels on HD Radio™, codec processing has become increasingly important in achieving bit rate savings for the implementation of additional channels. By correcting anomalies in audio content before they are encoded through the HDC codec, NeuStar 4.0 and SW4.0 are able to implement the best quality audio for bit rates as low as 16 kbps with bit savings of up to 30%. These savings can translate into wider bandwidth for revenue-generating data transmission, supplemental audio channels, Internet or mobile transmission.

Neural Audio’s NeuStar 4.0 AM/FM and SW4.0 processors are compatible with HD Radio, Internet, ISDN/POTS, Satellite, DRM, DAB, compressed STLs, mobile and satellite uplinks, and are fully field upgradeable for future expansion.

Neural Audio and THX Ltd. Partner for Cutting-Edge Surround Capabilities
On the heels of Neural Audio’s announcement of its partnership with THX Ltd., a driving force in cinema, post-production, game, car audio and home entertainment, Neural Audio will be demonstrating Neural-THX Surround technology at NAB 2007.

The Neural Surround-THX UpMix™ and DownMix™ Professional Studio offers an efficient way for broadcasters and professional mixers to encode and store 5.1 content during a live mix or post session on existing stereo equipment. With the Neural-THX Surround system, surround content is downmixed and processed into a Neural-THX Surround encoded, LwRw signal that can be played back in the studio in full discrete surround for mixing. The 2-D stereo downmix of the original 5.1 material allows seamless and artifact free cross fades from mono/stereo to surround, surround to mono/stereo and surround to surround.

The Neural-THX Surround system provides the rich envelopment and discrete image detail of surround sound in a format 100% compatible with stereo for use in CD’s, radios, A/V receivers, digital music players and digital music downloads. The Neural-THX Surround DownMix and UpMix system will be part of the Harris’ RMXdigital™ console demonstration in the Harris Broadcast booth at NAB.

Neural Audio Technology for Mission Critical Communications
For government communication applications, Neural Audio will present a new approach to a multi-channel, multiple audio sources for communications utilizing headphones. System attributes include increased clarity for mission-critical scenarios that require real-time analysis and decision-making.

Neural Enhanced AMR-WB+ Optimized Encoder for Mobile Operators and Internet Content Providers
Neural Audio will showcase their new product, the Neural-enhanced AMR-WB+, for the first time at NAB 2007. Introduced at the recent 3GSM World Congress, the Neural-AMR-WB+ solution is an optimized encoder for Internet service providers and mobile operators. The new product is a joint effort by Neural Audio and VoiceAge Corporation, the world’s premier supplier of speech and audio codecs, that strives to increase audio quality while reducing bit rate consumption for audio and music download and streaming applications to mobile devices such as mobile phones.

The new Neural-optimized AMR-WB+ encoding solution provides superior quality stereo music streaming and download from extremely low bit rates (16 kbps, and even lower) for lower communications bandwidth usage for more content with less download time.